COS2621/101/3/2018

Tutorial Letter 101/3/2018

Computer Organisation and Architecture

COS2621

Semesters 1 and 2

School of Computing

This tutorial letter contains important information

about your module.

BARCODE
 COS2621/101/3/2018

CONTENTS

Page

1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 4
2 PURPOSE OF AND OUTCOMES FOR THE MODULE ................................................................ 5
2.1 Purpose .......................................................................................................................................... 5
2.2 Outcomes ....................................................................................................................................... 5
3 LECTURER(S) AND CONTACT DETAILS.................................................................................... 6
3.1 Lecturer(s) ...................................................................................................................................... 6
3.2 Department ..................................................................................................................................... 6
3.3 University ........................................................................................................................................ 6
4 MODULE-RELATED RESOURCES .............................................................................................. 6
4.1 Prescribed books ............................................................................................................................ 6
4.2 Recommended books ..................................................................................................................... 7
4.3 Electronic Reserves (e-Reserves) .................................................................................................. 7
4.4 Library services and resources information .................................................................................... 7
5 STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES FOR THE MODULE ................................................................ 8
6 MODULE-SPECIFIC STUDY PLAN .............................................................................................. 8
7 MODULE PRACTICAL WORK AND WORK-INTEGRATED LEARNING .................................... 9
8 MODULE ASSESSMENT ............................................................................................................ 11
8.1 Assessment plan .......................................................................................................................... 11
8.2 General assignment numbers ...................................................................................................... 11
8.2.1 Unique assignment numbers ........................................................................................................ 11
8.2.2 Due dates for assignments ........................................................................................................... 11
8.3 Submission of assignments .......................................................................................................... 12
8.4 Assignments ................................................................................................................................. 12
8.4.1 Assignment 01 – Semester 1 ....................................................................................................... 12
8.4.2 Self-test A – Semester 1 ............................................................................................................... 18
8.4.3 Assignment 02 – Semester 1 ....................................................................................................... 28
8.4.4 SELF-TEST B (SEMESTER 1) ..................................................................................................... 31
8.4.5 Assignment 01 – Semester 2 ....................................................................................................... 36
8.4.6 Self-test A – Semester 2 ............................................................................................................... 42
8.4.7 ASSIGNMENT 02 - SEMESTER 2 ............................................................................................... 43

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8.4.8 Self-test B – Semester 2 ............................................................................................................... 44
9 OTHER ASSESSMENT METHODS ............................................................................................ 45
10 EXAMINATION ............................................................................................................................ 45
11 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS.......................................................................................... 46
12 SOURCES CONSULTED ............................................................................................................ 47
13 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................. 47

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Dear Student

1 INTRODUCTION
We would like to welcome you as a student of COS2621. Students usually enjoy this module -
especially those of you who like to experiment with new techniques. You will have plenty of
opportunity to try something entirely new.
Absolute answers to the design of computer architecture are seldom possible. The designs are
influenced by many factors, for example the current state of technology and our own understanding
of it, and historical factors. What we try to do in this module, is to emphasise important concepts so
that you will understand the limits of current solutions and the possible reasons for the fact that it is
not always possible to implement new trends immediately. This will enable you to understand and
appreciate inevitable changes in future technology.
There is a growing need for computer scientists to become involved in the design and
implementation of user interfaces for embedded systems such as those found in cell phones, cars
and tablets. To do this, we need to know what goes on at the lower levels of such systems. Most of
the concepts of computer organisation only make sense once you see how they have been
implemented on a specific machine and how they can be manipulated. You also need to know how
the different components of the system communicate. For this purpose, we do some practical work
in assembly language. This puts you on the assembly language level of the machine you are using.
We do some revision of first-year work. This includes the basic principles of logic design (logic
gates, combinational and sequential circuits), memory organisation, the central processing unit
(CPU) and bus structures. Then we look at data representation and the representation of integers
and floating-point numbers on a more formal basis.
We also study arithmetic operations, operating system interrupts, addressing modes, subroutine
calls in assembly language and the translation process.
Since the different members of the Intel (x86) family of computers are widely used, we study its
architecture as an example. The architectures of this family of microprocessors are very similar. For
the purpose of this course, we will assume that the instruction sets are identical and restrict our
register set to the basic architecture that is discussed in tutorial letter 102.
The theoretical part of the syllabus for COS2621 is covered mainly in the prescribed book Computer
Organization & Architecture by William Stallings.
PLEASE: Do not wait until the week (or night!) before the first assignment is due before
commencing your studies. Section 6 contains a study programme which you can use to plan your
studies for this module for the academic semester. If you stick to this programme, the handing in of
an assignment should never develop into a crisis.
Information on tutorial offerings at Unisa
Please be informed that, with effect from 2013, Unisa offers online tutorials (e-tutoring) to students
registered for modules at NQF level 5 and 6, this means qualifying first year and second year
modules.
Please communicate with your module leader to find out if any of the modules that you have
registered for falls in this category.

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Once you have been registered for a qualifying module, you will be allocated to a group of students
with whom you will be interacting during the tuition period as well as an e-tutor who will be your
tutorial facilitator. Thereafter you will receive an sms informing you about your group, the name of
your e-tutor and instructions on how to log onto MyUnisa in order to receive further information on
the e-tutoring process.
Online tutorials are conducted by qualified E-Tutors who are appointed by Unisa and are offered
free of charge. All you need to be able to participate in e-tutoring is a computer with internet
connection. If you live close to a Unisa regional Centre or a Telecentre contracted with Unisa,
please feel free to visit any of these to access the internet. E-tutoring takes place on MyUnisa
where you are expected to connect with other students in your allocated group. It is the role of the
e-tutor to guide you through your study material during this interaction process. For your to get the
most out of online tutoring, you need to participate in the online discussions that the e-tutor will be
facilitating.
There are modules which students have been found to repeatedly fail, these modules are allocated
face- to-face tutors and tutorials for these modules take place at the Unisa regional centres. These
tutorials are also offered free of charge, however, it is important for you to register at your nearest
Unisa Regional Centre to secure attendance of these classes.

2 PURPOSE OF AND OUTCOMES FOR THE MODULE

2.1 Purpose
This module will be useful for providing qualified professionals with an introductory level
understanding of computer organization and assembly language programming. We also look at
some operating systems concepts. This will equip you with the knowledge and skills needed to
analyse and evaluate the architecture of a specific family of computers and perform low-level
programming tasks on it.
2.2 Outcomes
1. Identify the different hardware components that a computer system consists of, such as the
CPU, memory, busses and I/O devices, and describe the important functions of each
component.
2. Discuss how these components are interconnected and how communication takes place
within a computer system.
3. Demonstrate different ways of data representation and also the way in which binary, integer
and floating-point numbers are represented, and manipulated.
4. Describe principles of different memory systems, such as cache memory, internal memory
and external memory
5. Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using different types of input and output
devices.
6. Demonstrate processor structure and organisation, and use of a variety of arithmetic and
logic operations, as well as addressing modes through programming in assembly language.
7. Discuss the principles of RISC computers.

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3 LECTURER(S) AND CONTACT DETAILS

3.1 Lecturer(s)
An important first step for establishing contact with both the lecturer(s) and your fellow students (if
you wish) is to register on myUnisa. Go to https://my.unisa.ac.za/portal/
You will be able to access all your study material plus additional resources on the COS2621 web
site. You should also create a myLife email account to ensure that you receive all electronic
correspondence from Unisa. This email account can be linked to your own personal email account
so that you will receive important announcements. You will find the name(s) of the lecturer(s) plus
the contact details for COS2621 for 2018 in the COSALL/302. It will also be provided in the
welcome message on the myUnisa web page for this module.
Please note that the College of Science, Engineering and Technology that the School of Computing
is part of, is based on the Florida Campus.
Email: The preferred way to contact us is by using email. We try to respond within 24 hours. You
can send email via the myUnisa web site.
Discussion Forum: You can communicate with your fellow students via the discussion forum for
COS2621 on myUnisa. Many students find this valuable for discussing mutual difficulties with the
study material. The lecturer does not necessarily play an active part on the discussion forum.
Additional Resources: A number of links to Open Educational Resources will be provided under
Additional Resources. You might find these very helpful especially for mastering assembly
language programming.
Please refer to the COS2621 home page for a description of more support facilities available for this
module.
3.2 Department
This module is presented by the School of Computing. Contact details of the School through the
department secretary:
Mrs Helen Frank
0116709188
3.3 University
Contact details of relevant administrative departments will be provided in a separate tutorial letter
and can also be found in the brochure Study@Unisa.

4 MODULE-RELATED RESOURCES
4.1 Prescribed books
The prescribed book for this module is:
William Stallings. Computer Organization and Architecture, Designing for Performance
Tenth edition. (Global Edition), Pearson, 2016.
Remember that the soft-cover version of the book is generally more affordable than the hard cover.
You can also access the available student resources for the prescribed book by visiting:
http://williamstallings.com/ComputerOrganization

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4.2 Recommended books
The following books are good references for the practical work:
Peter Abel. IBM PC Assembly Language and Programming, Fifth Edition. New Jersey: Prentice-
Hall, 2001.
Jeff Duntemann. Assembly Language Step-by-step: Programming with DOS and Linux, Second
Edition. USA: John Wiley & Sons, 2000.
The following book is useful for revision of first-year work.
A. Clements. The Principles of Computer Hardware. Englewood Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1985. We also found the following books useful:
David A. Patterson and John L. Hennessy. Computer Organization and Design: The
hardware/software interface, Third Edition. Morgan Kaufmann, 2005.
Andrew S. Tanenbaum. Structured Computer Organization, Fourth Edition. USA: Prentice-Hall,
1999. Carl Hamacher, Zvonko Vranesic & Safwat Zaky. Computer Organization, Fifth Edition.
McGraw-Hill, 2002.
John D. Carpinelli. Computer Systems: Organization & Architecture. USA: Addison Wesley
Longman, 2001.
Stephan D. Burd. Systems Architecture, Third Edition. Canada: Course Technology, Thompson
Learning, 2001.
Vincent P. Heuring and Harry F. Jordan. Computer Systems Design and Architecture. Addison
Wesley Longman, 1997.
Gerrit A. Blaauw and Frederick P. Brooks (Jr). Computer Architecture: Concepts and Evolution.
Addison Wesley Longman, 1997.
Joe Carthy. An Introduction to Assembly Language Programming and Computer Architecture.
International Thomson Computer Press, 1996.
Kip R. Irvine. Assembly Language for the IBM-PC. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company,
1993. Michael Thorne. Computer Organization and Assembly Language Programming. For IBM
PCs and Compatibles, Second Edition. The Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company, 1990.

Please note that the library only has some of these books in stock and only limited waiting lists will
be kept for these titles.
4.3 Electronic Reserves (e-Reserves)
Several links to Open Educational Resources (OERs) will be available on the COS2621 web site
under Additional Resources.
4.4 Library services and resources information
For brief information, go to www.unisa.ac.za/brochures/studies

For detailed information, go to http://www.unisa.ac.za/library. For research support and services of

personal librarians, click on "Research support".

The library has compiled a number of library guides:

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 finding recommended reading in the print collection and e-reserves –

http://libguides.unisa.ac.za/request/undergrad
 requesting material – http://libguides.unisa.ac.za/request/request
 postgraduate information services – http://libguides.unisa.ac.za/request/postgrad
 finding, obtaining and using library resources and tools to assist in doing research –
http://libguides.unisa.ac.za/Research_Skills
 how to contact the library/finding us on social media/frequently asked questions –
http://libguides.unisa.ac.za/ask

5 STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES FOR THE MODULE

Important information appears in your Study@Unisa brochure.
Free Computer and Internet Access
Unisa has entered into partnerships with establishments (referred to as Telecentres) in various
locations across South Africa to enable you (as a Unisa student) free access to computers and the
Internet. This access enables you to conduct the following academic related activities: registration;
online submission of assignments; engaging in e-tutoring activities and signature courses; etc.
Please note that any other activities outside of these are for your own costing e.g. printing,
photocopying, etc. For more information on the Telecentre nearest to you, please visit
www.unisa.ac.za/telecentres.

6 MODULE-SPECIFIC STUDY PLAN

Use the Study@Unisa brochure for general time management and planning skills.
Please note that we do not work through the chapters in the prescribed book in the order in which
they are presented. We focus on specific chapters for each assignment so that you will have the
required knowledge to complete the relevant assignment.
COS2621 - Study Programme
Assignment due date
Period Study Material 1st /2nd semester
Guide 102: Unit 1
Week 1 Stallings: Chapters 0, 1, 9 and 11
Guide 102: Unit 2
Week 2 Stallings: Chapter 2, Appendix B
Guide 102: Unit 3, Appendices A and B
Weeks 3 & 4 Stallings: Chapter 3
Do and submit Assignment 01 9 March / 17 August

Guide 102: Units 4, 5 and 6

Stallings: Chapters 14, 10 and 12

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Guide 102: Appendix C (work through)
Appendices A, B, D, E & F (use as
Week 5
references)
Do Self-test A 23 March / 31 August

Guide 102: Units 7, 8 and 9

Stallings: Chapters 13, 4 and 5
Weeks 6 - 8 Do Assignment 02, theoretical questions
Guide 102: Appendices A - F (use as
references)
Do Assignment 02, practical question
Week 9
Do and submit Assignment 02 13 April / 21 September

Guide 102: Units 10, 11 and 12

Weeks 10 & 11 Stallings: Chapters 6, 7 and 15
Do Self-test B 27 April / 5 October

Weeks 12 & 13 Revision

Examination Starts …

Please ensure that you allow enough time for possible postal delays if you submit by post.

EXTENSION DATE

Please do not ask for an extension of the due date. The semester system does not allow
any extra time for extensions.

7 MODULE PRACTICAL WORK AND WORK-INTEGRATED LEARNING

When you register for this module, you will receive the NASM assembler on a CD-ROM. Load the
file named index.html from the CD-ROM and click on the link to COS2621. You will be given clear
directions for the installation of NASM on your own computer. Guidelines regarding the use of this
assembler are given in appendix B of tutorial letter (Guide) 102. You must use NASM for the
development of your programming assignments. However, if you have experience in assembly
language programming and have access to one of the assemblers listed below, you may use that to
develop your programming tasks. However, we cannot provide support for technical problems that
you might experience with assemblers other than NASM.
NASM 64bit download link:
http://www.x64bitdownload.com/downloads/t-64-bit-nasm-download-vbepnjoq.html
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The following assemblers are also acceptable:

- TASM (Turbo Assembler) or OPTASM (Optimized TASM)
Available from: Software dealers.
- MASM (Microsoft Macro Assembler) Available from: Software dealers.
This assembler can also be downloaded from the web.
Tutorial letter 102 contains the information needed for the practical component of the module. We
will use NASM to write and assemble small assembly language programs. We will also use DEBUG
(which is part of DOS within the Windows environment) as a debugging tool for tracing and testing
assembly language programs. The study material for COS2621 supplied in Stallings and the tutorial
letters should be sufficient to enable you to do the assembly language programming that we expect
of you for this module.
You must plan to SPEND A CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT of time at your computer experimenting
with NASM and DEBUG. One has to experiment and try things out in order to gain a thorough
grasp of the internal organisation of a computer. You cannot expect to obtain this knowledge only
from reading the textbook and the tutorial letters.
Note that you need to use a 32-bit version of Windows for DEBUG.
DEBUG does not function on a 64 bit platform, there are 2 options that can be followed to get the
program to execute correctly:
Option 1
Windows 7 64-bit: If you are using a 64-bit version of Windows, you can create a virtual machine
with Windows XP by clicking on Virtual Machine listed under All programs on the 64-bit version of
Windows 7. Another alternative is to download and install VirtualPC from Microsoft. You can also
download and install a free 32-bit Windows XP image from Microsoft. Use the following link:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-za/download/details.aspx?id=8002
Instructions are also provided to install this Windows XP mode.
Windows 64 bit platforms have the ability to run programs that are 32 bit. In order to select this
option you must right click on the program and select properties. Then look for a compatibility tab.
On the tab you will see an option to run the program in compatibility mode for a previous Windows
platform. See if a 32 bit version is available in the list. If it is, try to run the 32 bit version of DEBUG
in that environment. If this is not working then either download the virtual machine option 1 or try
the easier option 2 by using a DosBox.
Option 2
The windows XP environment is not needed if you just use a DosBox. This creates an emulator that
runs older programs. DEBUG works by using DosBox.
https://sourceforge.net/projects/dosbox/files/latest/download?source=typ_redirect
Please read the intro of DosBox, the main thing to remember is to mount your drive you need to
work with. DosBox will typically start in drive Z:/>
From there you need to mount the drive where DEBUG is installed on, e.g. C:/>
Then you need to go to the folder that contains DEBUG if you have not mounted it directly and start
debug normally.

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8 MODULE ASSESSMENT
8.1 Assessment plan
Assignment Due date Year-mark weight
9 March 2018 (sem 1)
Assignment 01 17 August 2018 (sem 2) 30
23 March 2018 (sem 1)
Self-test A 31 August 2018 (sem 2) 0
13 April 2018 (sem 1)
Assignment 02 21 September 2018 (sem 2)
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27 April 2018 (sem 1)

Self-test B
5 October 2018 (sem 2) 0

8.2 General assignment numbers

Assignments are numbered consecutively per module, starting from 01.

8.2.1 Unique assignment numbers

Semester 1:
Assignment 01: 823369
Assignment 02: 722375
Semester 2:
Assignment 01: 676523
Assignment 02: 800332

8.2.2 Due dates for assignments

Semester 1
Assignment 01: 9 March 2018
Assignment 02: 13 April 2018

Semester 2:
Assignment 01: 17 August 2018
Assignment 02: 21 September 2018

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8.3 Submission of assignments

Consult your Study@Unisa brochure regarding the electronic submission of assignments.
N.B.: Due to regulatory requirements imposed by the Department of National Education the
following apply for this academic year (2018).
To gain admission to the examination you need to submit Assignment 01. The due date is 9 March
if you are registered for the first semester and 17 August if you are registered for the second
semester.
Important:
We encourage the forming of study groups, which should ideally consist of only 2 or 3 students,
because we realise how difficult it is to study in isolation. Since we are a distance-education
institution, our assessment programme does not make provision for group work. However, from
time to time we get incidents where students actually submit assignments that can be considered a
group effort. We believe that this does not benefit all the members of the study group and should be
avoided at all costs. For this reason, please note that you will be penalised severely for submitting
assignments that are so similar that they cannot be considered individual work.
8.4 Assignments

8.4.1 Assignment 01 – Semester 1

ASSIGNMENT 01 (SEMESTER 1)

DUE DATE: 9 March 2018

SUBMISSION PROCEDURE Mark-reading sheet / myUnisa
WEIGHT: 30
UNIQUE NUMBER: 823369
STUDY MATERIAL: Tutorial Letter 102: Units 1, 2 & 3
Appendices A & B Appendices D, E & F (Use as references)
Stallings: Chapters 0, 1, 2, 3, 9 and 11
Appendix B

Use NASM for the development of your programs. We also expect you to learn how to use DEBUG
provided with DOS within the Windows environment. It is quite a useful tool and we strongly urge
you to master its use as soon as possible. An understanding of the internal registers of the
Pentium as discussed in the tutorial letters, and the use of DEBUG is essential if you want to
master this module.
Submit the assignment on a mark-reading sheet.

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PLEASE BEAR THE FOLLOWING IN MIND WHEN YOU DO THE ASSIGNMENT:
 Questions 2 to 5 of this assignment will not be marked. Please evaluate your
answers using the guidelines that will be sent out in Tutorial Letter 201.
 Important: This assignment serves as preparation for Assignment 02. You will have
difficulty with the programming question in Assignment 02 if you do not submit
Assignment 01 and do not understand the exercises.
 Some of the multiple-choice questions (Question 1) are revision of first-year study
material.
 Submit your mark-reading sheet (Q1) to Unisa.

Mark-reading part of the assignment - submit Q1.1 to Q1.10

Question 1 (Submit on mark-reading sheet) [30]

1.1 What is the result of the following hexadecimal calculation?

FB + CA
(1) C5
(2) 1A5
(3) 1D6
(4) 1C5
(5) None of the above

1.2 Simplify ABC′ + (AB′)′ + BC by using Boolean identities.

(1) A′ + B
(2) A′ + B + C′
(3) A′ + BC′
(4) A′
(5) A′ + ABC′ + B

1.3 Which of the following are language processors?

(1) C++
(2) Assembler
(3) Compiler
(4) Interpreter

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(5) All of the above

1.4 ------------------- controls the operation of the computer and performs its data
processing functions.

(1) Main memory

(2) Control memory
(3) Processor
(4) Control unit
(5) Register

1.5 What is the hexadecimal representation of the binary value 01001110?

(1) 27h
(2) 2F
(3) 4C
(4) 4E
(5) None of the above.

1.6 -------------------------- permits addresses to be computed in the ALU and then

inserted into instructions stored in memory.
(1) Address modify
(2) Address memory
(3) I/O instructions
(4) Program counter
(5) Address register

1.7 Provide the machine code instruction for mov dx,mess in question 5.
(1) CD21
(2) 8A1E1601
(3) BA1701
(4) BA0117
(5) None of the above.

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1.8 ---------------- occurs if two or more processes are sharing a dynamic-link libraries
module but expect different versions of the module.
(1) Run-time dynamic linking
(2) Relocatable loading
(3) DLL hell
(4) Dynamic linker
(5) DLL shell.

1.9 What is the meaning of this Assembly Language code: DB “T”; MOV [K2], S?
(1) copy bits at K2 into S
(2) copy byte at K2 into S
(3) copy contents of K2 into S
(4) copy contents of S into byte at K2
(5) store address of S into byte at K2

1.10 A single two pass assembler does which of the following in the first pass

(1) It allocates space for the literals

(2) It computes the total length of the program
(3) It builds the symbol table for the symbols and their values
(4) all of the above
(5) It adds the instruction operand field empty in the assembled binary instruction.

Self-evaluation: written part of the assignment (do not

submit)
Question 2
a) Why is it important for a Computer Scientist to study computer organisation?
b) Explain the following terms in relation to microprocessor speed:
(i) Branch prediction
(ii) Data flow analysis
(iii) Speculative execution
(iv) Pipelining

Question 3
a) Briefly describe the concept of multicore processors.
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b) What does the term embedded systems mean?

Question 4
Simplify the following expression using Boolean algebra. At every step, identify the Boolean identity
that is used:
ABC′ + ABCD + B′C + AB

Question 5
In this question we expect you to enter a small assembly language program using a text editor, and
to assemble the program. NASM must be used to assemble the program and DEBUG must be
used to test the program. DEBUG has facilities that allow you to step through the program,
executing one instruction at a time. After each instruction you are able to see the contents of all the
registers and the status of the flags. You can also inspect the contents of memory at any given
point.
Before you attempt this question, work through the following two appendices:
Appendix A: The DOS DEBUG utility,
Appendix B: NASM - ‘The Netwide Assembler’. Use Sections 1 to 9 as reference. Work through the
practical examples in Sections B10 and B11.
Once you feel that you understand the study material covered in Appendices A and B of Study
Guide 101, enter the following program using a text editor. Follow the directions in Sections B10
and B11 of Appendix B to enter and store the program. Store it with the name as1_q.asm in the
folder unisa\nasm or in the folder of your choice. (It is easier if your programs and the NASM
assembler are in the same folder.)
; The program must be keyed in exactly as is given here.

begin:

test_:

disp:

bits 16
org 0x100

mov al,[a]
mov bl,[b]
sub al,bl
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jg disp ret

mov ah,09
mov dx,mess
int 21h
int 20h

a: db 20 b: db 10
mess: db 'A greater than B',10,13,'$'

Open the DOS window, make sure that you are in the unisa\nasm folder, and type
as as1_q to assemble the program. Correct syntax errors (if any) and assemble again. Answer the
following questions when your program has assembled successfully.
Note that you have to use an h to indicate that a number is in hexadecimal. For example: there is a
big difference between 100 and 100h.

(a) Load the program by entering: debug as1-q.com

(b) ‘Unassemble’ the object code by entering: u 100 130
(c) Why did we use test_ for a label name instead of just test without the
underscore?
(d) Which ASCII character is stored in memory position 120h?
(e) What are the actual memory positions that are associated with the labels test_
and disp respectively?
(f) Where do the instructions that follow the ‘$’ symbol at the end of the string mess
in the ‘unassembly’ come from?
(g) Which byte(s) is/are occupied by the mov bl,[b] instruction?
(h) Which are the first and last memory positions respectively occupied by the
program?
(i) What is the length of the program?
(j) What is the hexadecimal representation of the machine code for the instruction
sub al,bl?
(k) What ASCII character will be moved into DL if the mov dl,37 instruction
is executed?
Use the T-option of DEBUG to trace the program. Remember to use the P-option to trace the INT
instructions. Use the trace to answer the following questions:
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(l) What is the value of IP before execution of the jg disp instruction?

(m) What are the values stored in AL and BL respectively just before the sub
instruction is executed?

8.4.2 Self-test A – Semester 1

SELF-TEST A (SEMESTER 1)
DATE: 23 March 2018
Do not submit

STUDY MATERIAL: Guide 102: Units 4, 5 & 6

Appendix C (work through) Appendices A, B, D, E & F
(Use as references)

Stallings: Chapters 10, 12 & 14

Question 1
Which one of the registers of the Intel microprocessor can be regarded as the accumulator
register?
1. AX
2. BX
3. CX
4. DX

Question 2
Which one of the registers of the Intel microprocessor is known as the count register and can be
used to control the number of times a loop is executed?

1. AX
2. BX
3. CX
4. DX

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Question 3
Which one of the registers of the Intel microprocessor is known as the base register and can be
used as a pointer to memory?

1. AX
2. BX
3. CX
4. DX

Question 4
Consider the following DEBUG display:
AX=0012 BX=0000 CX=0000 DX=0235 SP=FFEE BP=0000 SI=0000 DI=0000
DS=1600 ES=1597 SS=1234 CS=1597 IP=0106 NV UP EI PL NZ NA PO NC
1597:0106 03062001 ADD AX,[0120] DS:0120=06E8

What is the effective 20-bit address of the next instruction that will be executed?

1. 16106h
2. 12446h
3. 016A3h
4. 15A76h

Question 5
Refer to the DEBUG display in Question 4. What is the effective 20-bit address of the top of the
stack?

1. 01222h
2. 25FEEh
3. 2232Eh
4. 25A1Eh

Question 6
Refer to the DEBUG display in Question 4. The next instruction to be executed is an ADD
instruction. One of the operands is found in the AX register. What is the effective 20-bit address of
the memory address where the other operand is stored?

1. 16120h
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2. 01820h
3. 12460h
4. 15A90h

Question 7
Refer to the DEBUG display in Question 4. What is the status of the following flags?

(a) the sign flag

(b) the carry flag
(c) the overflow flag
(d) the zero flag

1. (a) 0 (b) 0 (c) 1 (d) 0

2. (a) 0 (b) 0 (c) 0 (d) 0
3. (a) 1 (b) 0 (c) 1 (d) 0
4. (a) 1 (b) 1 (c) 0 (d) 1

Question 8
Refer to the DEBUG display in Question 4. What is the hexadecimal representation of the machine
code for the instruction that is the next to be executed?

1. 15970106h
2. 12006E8h
3. 03062001h
4. 01060306h

Question 9
What is the hexadecimal representation of the value 25.75 if it is stored in memory using the IEEE
single-precision floating-point format?

1. 41CE0000h
2. 41E70000h
3. 3DCE0000h
4. 42670000h

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Question 10
Which one of the following notations is known as reverse Polish notation?

1. Postfix
2. Prefix
3. Infix
4. Midfix

Question 11

The value BEF00000h is the hexadecimal representation of a floating-point value that is stored in
memory using the IEEE single-precision floating-point format. What binary value is represented?

1. -0.00111
2. -1.11100
3. -0.11100
4. -0.01111

Question 12
Consider the following instruction.
mov AX,1234

What will the contents of the AX register be if the instruction was assembled (i) in DEBUG and (ii) in
NASM respectively?

1. (i) 1234h (ii) 1234h

2. (i) 123410 (ii) 123410
3. (i) 1234h (ii) 123410
4. (i) 123410 (ii) 1234h

Question 13
Suppose AX contains the hexadecimal value 1234h and you execute the instruction
MOV [120],AX using DEBUG. How would the value 1234h be stored in memory?

1. The value 12h will be stored in memory position 120h and the value 34h in memory position
121h.

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2. The value 12h will be stored in memory position 121h and the value 34h in memory position
120h.
3. The value 12h will be stored in memory position 120h and the value 34h in memory position
11Fh.
4. The value 12h will be stored in memory position 11Fh and the value 34h in memory position
120h.

Question 14
Which register of the Intel microprocessor is known as the source index register?

1. AX
2. DI
3. SI
4. BP

Question 15
If you assemble a program using Nasm, what will be the result of the assembler directive DB
11,12,13,14?

1. Four words will be reserved in memory and the values 0011, 0012, 0013 and 0014
respectively stored in these 4 words .
2. Four words will be reserved in memory and the values 0011h, 0012h, 0013h and
0014h respectively stored in these 4 words.
3. Four bytes will be reserved in memory and the values 11, 12, 13 and 14
respectively stored in these 4 bytes.
4. Four bytes will be reserved in memory and the values 11h, 12h, 13h and 14h
respectively stored in these 4 bytes .

Question 16
Which one of the following binary numbers is the two’s complement representation of the integer
value -79?

1. 11001111
2. 10110000
3. 10110011
4. 10110001

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Question 17
What is the infix version of the following postfix expression? ABCDE + ×× /

1. (A + B) × (C × D) / E
2. ((A / B) × (C × D)) + E
3. (A / B) × (C × D + E)
4. A / (B × (C × (D + E)))

Question 18
What is the postfix version of the following infix expression? (A + B) × (C + D) + E

1. ABCDE + × + +
2. ABCDE + + × +
3. AB + CD + × E +
4. AB + CDE × + +

Question 19
Aside from postfix and infix expressions, one could also have prefix expressions. This means that
the operator precedes its two operands in the expression. Using the same principles that were
applied for infix to postfix conversion, choose the prefix version of the following infix expression:
(A + B) × (C + D) + E

1. +AB+×CDE
2. +×++ABCDE
3. +×+AB+CDE
4. +×AB++CDE

Question 20
Which one of the following statements is false regarding big-endian machines?

1. A big-endian processor has to perform addition when it converts a 32-bit integer address to
a 16-bit integer address.
2. Integers and character strings are stored in the same order.
3. A big-endian machine can compare integer-aligned character strings faster than a little-
endian machine.
4. It is easier to perform high-precision arithmetic on a big-endian machine than on a little-
endian machine.
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Question 21
Which one of the following statements regarding endianness is correct?

1. All machines use the same standard regarding endianness.

2. The bit and byte ordering on one machine are always the same.
3. Both bits and bytes are numbered from 0.
4. The Intel Pentium is a little-endian machine.

Question 22
Consider the subroutine given below. The subroutine adds two values. The two values are passed
to the subroutine on the stack and the result is returned on the stack. The two instructions
preceding the RET instruction are called the .

sub:
pop dx pop ax pop bx
add ax,bx
push ax push dx ret

1. start-up sequence
2. clean-up sequence
3. prolog
4. epilog

Question 23
Refer to the subroutine in Question 22. The first three instructions in the subroutine are called the
.
1. start-up sequence
2. clean-up sequence
3. prolog
4. epilog

Question 24
Refer to the subroutine in Question 22. What is the purpose of the first instruction?

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1. It pops the first operand from the stack
2. It pops the second operand from the stack.
3. It pops the return address from the stack.
4. It pops the address of the RET instruction from the stack.

Question 25
Refer to the subroutine in Question 22. Which one of the following instructions is true regarding the
execution of the RET instruction?
1. The return address is popped from the stack and stored in the IP register.
2. The program branches back to the statement following the JMP instruction
that caused a jump to the subroutine.
3. The return address, which is stored in the BP register, is stored in the IP register.
4. Control is passed back to the main program.

Question 26
If you use the INT 21h instruction to accept one character from the keyboard, where will you find
the character that was entered by the user when the interrupt service routine gives control back to
your program?

1. AL
2. AH
3. DL
4. DH

Question 27
If you use the INT 21h instruction to display one character on the screen, where must this character
be stored before the INT 21h instruction is executed?

1. AL
2. AH
3. DL
4. DH

Question 28
We can use INT 10h to set the screen colour. Which one of the following is the hexadecimal
representation of the contents of BH for the screen colour to be set to grey on blue (blinking)?

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1. 98h
2. 18h
3. C1h
4. 41h

Question 29
What should the value of CL be if we use the following shift-right instruction to divide the value in
the AX register by 4? shr ax,cl
1. 1
2. 2
3. 3
4. 4
Question 30
What should the value of CL be if we use the following shift-left instruction to multiply the value in
the AX register by 8?
shl ax,cl
1. 1
2. 2
3. 3
4. 4

Question 31
Suppose AX = 1234h and BX = FFFFh. What is the result of the following instruction?
and bx, ax

1. AX = 1234h and BX = 1234h

2. AX = 1234h and BX = FFFFh
3. AX = FFFFh and BX = FFFFh
4. AX = FFFFh and BX = 1234h

Question 32
Suppose AX = 1357h and BX = 2468h. What is the result of the following instruction?
or ax, bx

1. AX = 1357h and BX = 377Fh

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2. AX = 377Fh and BX = 2468h
3. AX = 7777h and BX = 2468h
4. AX = 1357h and BX = 777Fh

Question 33
Suppose AX = 1234h. What is the result of the following instruction?
xor ax, ax

1. AX = 1234h
2. AX = FFFFh
3. AX = 0000h
4. AX = 2468h

Question 34
Consider the program fragment given below to answer the following two questions:

(a) How many times will the loop be executed?

(b) What is the final value of AX after the execution of the loop?
mov ax,2 mov bx,7 mov cx,9

loop1:

add ax,1 loop loop1

1. (a) 8 (b) 10
2. (a) 10 (b) 12
3. (a) 9 (b) 11
4. (a) 7 (b) 9

Question 35
Suppose AX contains the value 9876h. What will be the result of the following instruction?
sar ax,3

1. 130Eh
2. F30Eh

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3. D30Eh
4. C30Fh
8.4.3 Assignment 02 – Semester 1

ASSIGNMENT 02 (SEMESTER 1)
DUE DATE: 13 April 2018

SUBMISSION PROCEDURE: Written answers and a written program

UNIQUE NUMBER: 722375

WEIGHT: 70

STUDY MATERIAL:
Guide 102:
Units 7, 8 & 9
Appendices A - F (Use as references)

Stallings:
Chapters 4, 5 & 13

Submit written answers for questions 1 to 3. All the questions will not necessarily be marked.

Question 1 [20]

(a) The following table reflects the memory contents of a part of memory in a one-
address machine with an accumulator:

Address Contents

300 320

305 310
310 310
315 325
320 305

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325 300

What values do the following instructions load into the accumulator?

LOAD DIRECT 300
LOAD DIRECT 320
LOAD INDIRECT 325

(b) Give examples of x86 instructions in which the following addressing modes are used:

Immediate addressing
Direct addressing
Stack addressing
Indexed addressing
Base-addressing
Register indirect addressing

Question 2 [50]

Assembly language programming:

Write a program in assembly language to read a number entered by the user. The program should
display an enlarged version of a given number on the screen. The program should do the
following:
Clear the screen and change the screen colour to yellow on blue.
Change the cursor position to row 10, column 0.

Prompt the user to key in an upper case letter (A - E). Read the letter from the keyboard.

Test whether the number is in range (A,…, E). Display an error message if the letter is out of
range and terminate the program.
Display an enlarged version of the letter on the screen.

Example: If the user enters B, the following pattern is displayed:

Enlarged letter Bit pattern Hex number Line number

$$$$ 11110 1E 1
$ $ 10001 11 2
$ $ 10001 11 3
$$$$ 11110 1E 4
$ $ 10001 11 5
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$ $ 10001 11 6
$$$$ 11110 1E 7

Define a bit pattern for each letter and use this pattern to display the individual lines:

For eample: For the letter ‘B’ displayed above you should define a string of 7 hex numbers, one
hex number for each line.
To display the first line, step through the bit pattern, displaying a space if the bit is equal to zero
and displaying a ‘$’ otherwise. Write a carriage return and line feed to the screen and move to the
pattern for the next line. Display all 7 lines of the enlarged number.

Terminate the program.

The first line in your program should be a comment line in which your student number and name
are stated.

NB: You need to submit three screen shots of different test runs performed.

Marks will be allocated as follows:

Clearing the screen, changing the screen colour and setting the cursor position (3)

Displaying the user prompt (1)

Reading the letter (ASCII character) (2)

Testing the range and displaying an error message if the letter is out of range (3)

Definition of bit patterns (5)

Displaying the lines corresponding to the bit pattern of the letter entered (6)

A program listing submitted (5)

Three screen shots of test cases submitted (3 × 5) (15)

The program structure (5)

The program documentation (comments) (5)

___________________________________________________________________________

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8.4.4 SELF-TEST B (SEMESTER 1)

DATE: 27 April 2018

Do not submit

STUDY MATERIAL: Guide 102: Units 10, 11 & 12

Stallings: Chapters 6, 7 & 15

Question 1
Which one of the following is NOT a benefit of using glass substrates over aluminum material on
magnetic disks?
(1) Improvement in the uniformity of the magnetic film surface to increase reliability.
(2) A significant reduction in overall surface defects to help reduce read-write errors.
(3) Higher storage capacity.
(4) Greater ability to withstand shock and damage.

Question 2
In magnetic disk technology, data is transferred to and from the disk in -------------.
(1) sectors
(2) blocks
(3) chunks
(4) cylinders

Question 3
Which one of the following statements regarding multiple-zone recordings is TRUE?

(1) Within one zone, the number of bits per track vary from one track to another.
(2) The circuits needed for this technique are easy to design.
(3) The storage space is the same as that of CAV disks.
(4) Zones further from the center of the disk contain more bits than zones near the center.

Question 4
The number of read-write heads per track on a fixed-head disk is --------------.
(1) two
(2) three

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(3) one
(4) four

Question 5
On a movable-head system, the time it takes to position the head at the track is known as --------
(1) the seek time
(2) the rotational delay
(3) the access time
(4) the transfer time

Question 6
The order in which sectors are read has a great effect on I/O performance. Consider a typical disk
with an advertised average seek time of 20 ms, a rotational delay of 8.3 ms and 512-byte sectors
with 32 sectors per track. Assume that a file that we wish to read consists of 256 sectors and is
stored as compactly as possible on the disk, i.e. using sequential organisation. Calculate the time it
takes to read the entire file. It is assumed that the disk rotates at a speed of 3600rpm.
(1) 440 ms = 0.44s
(2) 220 ms = 0.22s
(3) 880ms = 0.88s
(4) None of the above

Question 7
Which one of the following statements is NOT a characteristic of the RAID scheme?

(1) Redundant disk space is used to store parity information.

(2) The operating system sees such a scheme as one logical disk drive.
(3) Data are distributed over the disks which comprise the RAID.
(4) A hierarchical relationship exists between the different RAID-levels.

Question 8
Which one of the following statements is NOT true regarding aspects of the RAID 1 organisation?
(1) A read request can be serviced by either of the two disks that contain the requested
data.
(2) A write request does not require that both corresponding strips be updated.

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(3) When a single strip is updated, the array management software must first compute and
update the parity bits as well as updating the actual strip in question.
(4) When a drive fails, the data may still be accessed from the second drive.

Question 9
What is the main difference between audio CD and CD-ROM technology?
(1) An audio CD is aluminium-coated whereas a CD-ROM is gold-coated.
(2) CD-ROM players contain fault-correction devices whereas audio CD players do not.
(3) Audio CDs can only contain audio information whereas CD-ROMs can contain data or
audio information.
(4) An audio CD has an acrylic coating to protect it against dust and scratches while a CD-
ROM has a silkscreen coating for this purpose.

Question 10
The acronym CLV stands for----------------.
(1) Current Level of Velocity
(2) Concurrent Linear Vectors
(3) Constant Linear Velocity
(4) Curved Linear Vector

Question 11
Which one of the following statements regarding CDs and DVDs is TRUE?
(1) A CD can record on both sides while a DVD can only record on one side.
(2) Data can be recorded on one layer on a DVD but can be recorded on two layers on a
CD.
(3) Bits are packed more tightly on a DVD than on a CD.
(4) Currently DVDs can contain 10 times as much data as a CD can contain.

Question 12
There are various reasons why I/O-devices are not connected directly to the system bus. Which
one of the following is NOT one of those reasons?
(1) The transfer speed of the processor is much faster than that of I/O-devices.
(2) The transfer speed of some I/O-devices is faster than that of the processor or
memory.
(3) There are a variety of devices that can be connected: I/O modules are needed to handle
the communication.
(4) It often happens that I/O devices do not use the same data formats and word lengths as
the computer to which they are connected.
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 COS2621/101/3/2018

Question 13
One of the strengths of the -------------- is that it uses serial transmission rather than parallel.
(1) PCI
(2) USB
(3) ISA
(4) DMA

Question 14
In a ------------ there are multiple lines connecting the I/O modules, whereas in a --------only one line
is used to transmit data.
(1) parallel interface; serial interface
(2) serial interface; parallel interface
(3) system bus; parallel interface
(4) serial interface; system bus

Question 15
Which one of the following is one of the categories that external devices belong to?
(1) Teledetection
(2) Remote sensing
(3) Communication
(4) Human-computer interactive

Question 16
The --------- module transfers the entire block of data, one word at a time, directly to or from
memory.
(1) Data cache
(2) DMA
(3) ROM
(4) EPROM

Question 17
Which one of the following is one of the types of command that an I/O module may receive when
addressed by a processor?
(1) Acknowledge
(2) Test
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(3) Escape
(4) Execute

Question 18
The I/O function includes a ------------- requirement to coordinate the flow of traffic between internal
resources and external devices.
(1) unique
(2) test
(3) specification
(4) control and timing

Question 19
The connection between an I/O module and a computer system is either point-to-point or ---
---------.
(1) multipoint
(2) multipoint-to-multipoint
(3) multipoint-to-point
(4) point-to-multipoint

Question 20
Which one of the following is one of the layers of protocol of the FireWire standard?
(1) Application layer
(2) Link layer
(3) Network layer
(4) Transport layer

___________________________________________________________________________

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 COS2621/101/3/2018

8.4.5 Assignment 01 – Semester 2

ASSIGNMENT 01 - SEMESTER 2
DUE DATE: 17 August 2018

SUBMISSION PROCEDURE - Mark-reading sheet

WEIGHT: 30

UNIQUE NUMBER: 676523

STUDY MATERIAL: Tutorial Letter 102:

Units 1, 2 & 3
Appendices A & B Appendices D, E & F (Use as references)
Stallings: Chapters 0, 1, 2, 3, 9 and 11.
Appendix B.

Use NASM for the development of your programs. We also expect you to learn how to use DEBUG
provided with DOS within the Windows environment. It is quite a useful tool and we strongly urge
you to master its use as soon as possible. An understanding of the internal registers of the
Pentium as discussed in Tutorial Letter 101, and the use of DEBUG is essential if you want to
master this module.

Submit the assignment on a mark-reading sheet.

PLEASE BEAR THE FOLLOWING IN MIND WHEN YOU DO THE ASSIGNMENT:

• Questions 2 to 6 of this assignment will not be marked. Please evaluate your answers using
the guidelines that will be sent out in Tutorial Letter 201.
• Important: This assignment serves as preparation for Assignment 02. You will have difficulty
with the programming question in Assignment 02 if you do not submit Assignment 01 and do
not understand the exercises.
• Some of the multiple-choice questions (Question1) are revision of first-year study material.
• Submit your mark-reading sheet (Q1) to Unisa.

Mark-reading part of the assignment - submit Q1.1 to Q1.10

Question1 (Submit on mark-reading sheet) [30]

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 COS2621/101/3/2018

1.1 What is the maximum number of memory locations that can be addressed by a chip with 16
address pins?
(1) 16
(2) 65 535
(3) 22
(4) 65 536
(5) None of the above

1.2 ------------- refers to the tendency for a processor to access memory locations that have
been used recently.
(1) Cache
(2) Spatial locality
(3) Permanent locality
(4) Temporal locality
(5) Main memory

1.3 ---------------- is dedicated to one or a small number of specific tasks required by the host
device.
(1) A microcontroller
(2) An application processor
(3) A dedicated processor
(4) A cache
(5) A memory

1.4 A memory has 1024 storage units with a width of 64. Suppose the memory is
byte addressable. What is the address of the highest addressable memory
position?
(1) 1023
(2) 1024
(3) 8191
(4) 8192
(5) None of the above

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1.5 Calculate: (C9)16 - (7A)16

(1) 28h
(2) 46 (decimal)
(3) 2Eh
(4) 2Fh
(5) None of the above.

1.6 What will the carry flag (CF), the overflow flag (OF), the sign flag (SF) and the
zero flag (ZF) be set to if the following arithmetic is done in an 8-bit register?
FE + FB
(1) CF=1, OF=0, SF=1, ZF=0
(2) CF=1, OF=1, SF=0, ZF=0
(3) CF=1, OF=0, SF=1, ZF=1
(4) CF=1, OF=1, SF=1, ZF=0
(5) None of the above.

1.7 A model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool
of configurable computing resources is called -----------------------.
(1) Grid computing
(2) Network computing
(3) Storage computing
(4) Cloud computing
(5) LAN computing

1.8 The ------------provide a path for moving data among system modules.
(1) data buses
(2) data lines
(3) address lines
(4) control lines
(5) system buses.

1.9 Which one of the following will be flagged by DEBUG as an error?

(1) SUB BL, AL

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 COS2621/101/3/2018
(2) DB 45
(3) MOV AH, 56
(4) ADD AH, AL
(5) DB 23H

1.10 The decimal value for (7E)16 is ------------.

(1) 112
(2) 162
(3) 126
(4) 142

Self-evaluation: written part of the assignment (do not

submit)

Question 2 (Self-evaluation)
(a) What shortcomings of ASCII led to the development of UNICODE? You can use your
own additional sources to answer this question.

(b) What is an interrupt? List and describe the most common classes of interrupt.

Question 3 (Self-evaluation)
Write a program fragment to multiply the value in the AX register with 10 (decimal) in the
following way: Multiply AX by 8 by using a shift left instruction, and store the result.
Multiply AX by 2 by using a shift left instruction and add this to the previous result.

Question 4 (Self-evaluation)
Simplify the following expression using Boolean algebra. At every step, identify the
Boolean identity that is used. (A'BC + (A'+B+C')')' + AB

Question 5 (Self-evaluation)
(a) Convert the following decimal number to binary: (123.54)10
(b) Convert the following binary number to decimal: (10111.011)2
(c) Convert the following decimal number to hexadecimal: (167.24)10

(d) Convert the following binary number to hexadecimal: (111110110011011.001)2

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 COS2621/101/3/2018

Question 6 (Self-evaluation)
In this question we expect you to enter a small assembly language program using a text editor,
and to assemble the program. NASM must be used to assemble the program and DEBUG
must be used to test the program. DEBUG has facilities that allow you to step through the
program, executing one instruction at a time. After each instruction you are able to see the
contents of all the registers and the status of the flags. You can also inspect the contents of
memory at any given point.

Before you attempt this question, work through the following two appendices in the

Tutorial Letters: Appendix A: The DOS DEBUG utility,

Appendix B: NASM - ‘The Netwide Assembler’. Use Sections 1 to 9 as reference. Work
through the practical examples in Sections B10 and B11.

Once you feel that you understand the study material covered in Appendices A and B of the
Tutorial Letters, enter the following program using a text editor. Follow the directions in Sections
B10 and B11 of Appendix B to enter and store the program. Store it with the name ass1-q.asm in
the folder unisa\nasm or in the folder of your choice. It works better if your programs and the
NASM assembler are in the same folder.

; The program must be keyed in exactly as is given here.

org 0x100
bits 16
jmp start ; Start program execution
char: db 'BROWN FOX' ; Please key in exactly as shown,
; with a space between BROWN and FOX
start:
; test
jmp_:
output:
end:

xor dx,dx
mov ax,3017

mov bx,03h

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 COS2621/101/3/2018
div bx
or ax,7777h
test al,21h

mov ah,02h

mov dl,[char+6]
jnz output

mov dl,34h

int 21h

int 20h

; The end

Open the DOS window, make sure that you are in the unisa\nasm folder, and type as ass1-q
to assemble the program. Correct syntax errors (if any) and assemble again. Answer the
following questions when your program has assembled successfully.

Note that you have to use an h to indicate that a number is in hexadecimal. For example:
there is a big difference between 100 and 100h.

(a) Print a printout of the program listing generated by NASM for your own records.
(b) Load the program by entering: debug as1-q.com
'Unassemble' the object code by entering: u 100 130
(c) Why did we use jmp_ for a label name instead of just jmp without the underscore?
(d) Which ASCII character is stored in memory position 107h?
(e) What are the actual memory positions that are associated with the labels start and
output respectively?
(f) Where do the instructions that follow int 20h in the 'unassembly' come from?
(g) Which byte(s) is/are occupied by the test al,21h instruction?
(h) Which are the first and last memory positions occupied by the program?
(i) What is the length of the program?
(j) What is the hexadecimal representation of the machine code for the instruction:
mov dl,[char+6]
(k) What ASCII character will be moved into DL if the mov dl,[char+6] instruction is executed?
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Use the T-option of DEBUG to trace the program. Remember to use the P-option to trace the INT
instructions.

HOW TO OBTAIN A PRINT-OUT OF THE TEXT ON THE SCREEN WITHIN A DOS WINDOW

There are various ways to obtain a print-out of the DEBUG output in the DOS window. You
might find the following method handy for various applications:

To print text from a DOS screen - Windows 2000, NT and XP:

To get your DOS window from full-screen mode to window mode, you can do the following:

• Click on Start, then on Programs, then on Accessories.

• Now move to Command prompt and RIGHT-click. Click on Properties, then click on Options.
• At Edit Options, mark Quick edit mode, and at Display options, mark Window. Click on OK.
Exit.

When you want to print text from the DOS window:

• Move to the blue bar at the top of the screen and RIGHT-click. A drop-down menu
appears. Move to Edit, and another menu appears. Click on Mark. Select the output with
the mouse, i.e. highlight it.

• Again move to the blue bar at the top of the screen and RIGHT-click. A drop-down menu
appears. Move to Edit, and another menu appears. Click on Copy. By doing this the selected
text is copied to the clipboard. Exit.

• Now open a document in the text processor you are using. Click on Edit and then on
Paste. The output that was copied to the clipboard will be pasted into your document and
can be printed from there.

___________________________________________________________________________

8.4.6 Self-test A – Semester 2

SELF-TEST A – SEMESTER 2
DATE: 31 August 2018
Do not submit

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STUDY MATERIAL: Guide 102: Units 4, 5 & 6

Appendix C (work through) Appendices A, B, D, E & F
(Use as references) Stallings: Chapters 10, 12 & 14

This self-test is the same as the self-test for semester 1

8.4.7 ASSIGNMENT 02 - SEMESTER 2

DUE DATE: 21 September 2018

SUBMISSION PROCEDURE: Written answers and a written program

UNIQUE NUMBER: 800332

WEIGHT: 70

STUDY MATERIAL:
Guide 102:
Units 7, 8 & 9
Appendices A - F (Use as references)

Stallings:
Chapters 4, 5 & 13

Submit written answers for questions 1 and 2. All the questions will not necessarily be marked.

Question 1 [20]

a) Why is it important for a Computer Scientist to study computer organisation?

b) Explain the following terms in relation to microprocessor speed:

(i) Branch prediction

(ii) Data flow analysis

(iii) Speculative execution

(iv) Pipelining
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Question 2 [50]

Assembly language programming: Problem statement:

Write a program in IBM PC assembly language to do the following:
1. Display the following prompt: "Enter the number for the factorial calculation (0 to 8):"
2 Accept the number from the keyboard as an ASCII string.
3. Convert the string to a numeric value.
4. Call a subroutine that calculates the factorial of the number.
5. Convert the result to an ASCII string and display it on the screen.
6. Terminate the program when a key such as "Q" is pressed. N.B. Keep the following in
mind:
1. The value must be passed to both subroutines as a parameter on the stack. The result should
also
be passed back to the calling program on the stack.
2. Use either of the following two algorithms as guidelines for your subroutines:

Iterative function FactIter

(N): Result = 1;
For I = 2 to N do
Result = Result *
I; FactIter = Result;

Recursive function FactRec

(N): If N = 1 then
FactRec = 1
else
FactRec = N * FactRec (N-1);

___________________________________________________________________________
8.4.8 Self-test B – Semester 2

SELF-TEST B - SEMESTER 2

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DATE: 5 October 2018

Do not submit

STUDY MATERIAL: Guide 102: Units 10, 11 & 12

Stallings: Chapters 6, 7 & 15

This self-test is the same as self-test B for semester 1.

9 OTHER ASSESSMENT METHODS

There are two self-evaluation assignments. These must not be submitted but do them at your own
pace and evaluate your answers using the tutorial letter that will contain detailed discussions on all
the questions in the self-tests.

10 EXAMINATION

Your final semester mark is calculated based on your performance on assignments throughout the
semester as well as your examination mark. Therefore, assignments not only give you the
opportunity to evaluate your understanding of the study material covered in the module, but also
contribute 20% towards your final semester mark. The following formula will be used to calculate
your final semester mark:

Semester mark (out of 100) × 0.20 + Examination mark (out of 100) × 0.80.

The table below illustrates how the assessment system works if you have submitted all the
assignments for the module and written the final exam.

Note: Assignment 1 and 2 contribute towards your semester mark. You will not be awarded marks if
an assignment is not submitted or submitted after the due date.

Assignment 1 2
Weight 30/100 70/100
Semester Mark Contribution 100% × 0.30 100% × 0.70

Suppose you received a mark of 50% for Assignment 01 and 40% for Assignment 02. Your
semester mark will be calculated as 50 × 0.3 + 40 × 0.7 = 15 + 28 = 43

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Suppose your exam mark is 70%. Your final mark will be:
0.2 × 43 + 70 × 0.8 = 8.6 + 56.0 = 64.6% which will be rounded to 65%.

Please note that the year mark will not be taken into account if your exam mark is below 40%. It is
also not taken into account if you are writing a supplementary examination.

11 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How do I obtain a print-out of the text on the screen within a DOS window?

There are various ways to obtain a print-out of the DEBUG output in the DOS window. You might
find the following method handy for various applications:

To print text from a DOS screen - Windows XP, 7:

To get your DOS window from full-screen mode to window mode, you can do the following:

• Click on Start, then on Programs, then on Accessories.

• Now move to Command prompt and RIGHT-click. Click on Properties, then click on
Options.
• At Edit Options, mark Quick edit mode, and at Display options, mark Window. Click on
OK. Exit.

When you want to print text from the DOS window:

• Move to the blue bar at the top of the screen and RIGHT-click. A drop-down menu appears. Move
to Edit, and another menu appears. Click on Mark. Select the output with the mouse, i.e. highlight it.
• Again move to the blue bar at the top of the screen and RIGHT-click. A drop-down menu
appears. Move to Edit, and another menu appears. Click on Copy. By doing this the selected text is
copied to the clipboard. Exit.
• Now open a document in the text processor you are using. Click on Edit and then on Paste. The
output that was copied to the clipboard will be pasted into your document and can be printed from
there.

How do I obtain a screen shot?

The easiest way: Open a blank MS Word document.

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Run the program for which you want to obtain a screen dump. Press Shift + PrtScn.
Go back to your Word document and press Ctrl + V. The relevant screen will be copied to the Word
document. You can copy and paste it from this document to your assignment.

Please note that there is also a FAQ link on the COS2621 web site.

12 SOURCES CONSULTED

Both the prescribed book and the recommended book were consulted in drafting this tutorial letter.

13 CONCLUSION
Any additional information that may become relevant during the year will be published and
announced on myUnisa.

I hope you will enjoy this module and find the content useful.

Lecturer:
Dr. Wernher Friedrich

© Unisa 2018

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